Portal virtually modified my mind chemistry in 2007. The primary-person puzzle sport felt like an not possible magic trick on the time, and few video games launched in its wake have been capable of outdo it. Now, almost 20 years later, a lone developer has as soon as once more given me that have with the mind-bending He Who Watches.
Developed by Bobby Vanden and printed by puzzle sport champions Draknek and Buddies, He Who Watches takes the core concepts that made Portal really feel one-of-a-kind and applies them to a novel, perspective-shifting idea. It’s difficult, wealthy with secrets and techniques, slightly nauseating, and, indubitably, the most effective puzzle video games you’ll play in 2026.
With little or no story to information you, He Who Watches places you within the position of an archer exploring a wierd construction full of puzzle chambers. You’ll clear rooms to progress to new areas as you seek for glyphs and hunt down a god-like being trapped someplace throughout the house. You may classify it as a 3D Sokoban sport, a time period used to explain puzzle games where you push boxes. You’re capable of seize maintain of packing containers by firing an arrow at them and transfer them the place they have to be, whether or not it is onto switches or out of your path. The premise is easy sufficient: get via the exit door of every room by shifting packing containers, firing arrows at switches, and doing a little bit of intelligent spatial reasoning. How sophisticated might it’s?
Very. The trick in He Who Watches is you can stroll on the partitions and ceiling of every room, flipping gravity to match your orientation. Say you choose up a field whereas standing on the bottom. Should you put it down, it’ll keep on the bottom — regular! However should you drag it as much as the ceiling and drop it, it’ll stick up there as a substitute. As you may anticipate, some actually brain-breaking puzzles kind from that premise. As you may also anticipate, operating round each floor of a room in first-person may also make you’re feeling slightly queasy. It’s a small value to pay for an creative gameplay trick that’s executed with precision, because of tight puzzle design.
What’s particularly spectacular about He Who Watches is that it’s not a one-trick pony. Somewhat than utilizing its trick as a mere visible gimmick, Vanden threads in a number of ingenious puzzle concepts that play with gravity. Deep in my playthrough, I reached a collection of chambers constructed round transport beams that push packing containers alongside a inexperienced, glowing line. I quickly realized that I might use packing containers to jam that beam’s trajectory, turning it right into a bridge I might freely stroll over. Just a few puzzles later, I realized that I might do even extra with that software, virtually gaining the flexibility to program machines that push packing containers the place I would like them to be. The complexity retains constructing step by step till you’ve change into an engineer with out realizing it.
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If that sounds daunting, don’t fear. Vanden appeared to grasp that when designing He Who Watches’ sensible trace system. Each room options an optionally available mini-puzzle chamber that’s constructed to show you the core idea of the puzzle you’re on. Say you hit a puzzle the place you’re tasked with crossing a seemingly not possible hole. That trace room may give you a easy puzzle that exhibits you how one can get a field throughout a niche. It’s a stroke of genius that solves one of many worst blockades in puzzle video games: Generally you hit a puzzle and simply don’t know what the sport is asking you to do. That’s by no means unclear right here; it’s solely the execution that’s tough.
I’m nonetheless making my means via He Who Watches, taking my time to understand each brainy answer. Even when a puzzle stumps me for half-hour, I’m nonetheless persistently delighted after I uncover a solution that feels sensically constructed and truthful. Contemplating how briskly I chewed via Portal after I first performed it, I’m going to savor my time with this one. A sport this creatively euphoric doesn’t come round too typically.